General Prologue: Conclusion

Fragment 1, lines 715–858

Summary

After introducing all of the pilgrims, the narrator apologizes
for any possible offense the reader may take from his tales, explaining
that he feels that he must be faithful in reproducing the characters’ words,
even if they are rude or disgusting. He cites Christ and Plato as
support for his argument that it is best to speak plainly and tell
the truth rather than to lie. He then returns to his story of the
first night he spent with the group of pilgrims.

After serving the pilgrims a banquet and settling the
bill with them, the Host of the tavern speaks to the group. He welcomes
and compliments the company, telling them they are the merriest
group of pilgrims to pass through his inn all year. He adds that
he would like to contribute to their happiness, free of charge.
He says that he is sure they will be telling stories as they travel,
since it would be boring to travel in silence. Therefore, he proposes
to invent some entertainment for them if they will unanimously
agree to do as he says. He orders the group to vote, and the narrator
comments that the group didn’t think it would be worthwhile to argue
or deliberate over the Host’s proposition and agreed immediately.

The Host congratulates the group on its good decision.
He lays out his plan: each of the pilgrims
will tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back. Whomever the Host
decides has told the most meaningful and comforting stories will
receive a meal paid for by the rest of the pilgrims upon their return.
The Host also declares that he will ride with the pilgrims and serve
as their guide at his own cost. If anyone disputes his judgment,
he says, that person must pay for the expenses of the pilgrimage.

The company agrees and makes the Host its governor, judge,
and record keeper. They settle on a price for the supper prize and
return to drinking wine. The next morning, the Host wakes everyone
up and gathers the pilgrims together. After they have set off, he
reminds the group of the agreement they made. He also reminds them
that whoever disagrees with him must pay for everything spent along
the way. He tells the group members to draw straws to decide who
tells the first tale. The Knight wins and prepares to begin his
tale.

Analysis

The Host shows himself to be a shrewd businessman.
Once he has taken the pilgrims’ money for their dinners, he takes
their minds away from what they have just spent by flattering them,
complimenting them for their mirth. Equally quickly, he changes
the focus of the pilgrimage. In the opening lines of the General
Prologue, the narrator says that people go on pilgrimages to thank
the martyr, who has helped them when they were in need (17–18).
But Bailey (as the Host is later called) tells the group, “Ye goon
to Caunterbury—God yow speede, / The blissful martir quite yow youre
meede!” (769–770).
He sees the pilgrimage as an economic transaction: the pilgrims
travel to the martyr, and in return the martyr rewards them. The
word “quite” means “repay,” and it will become a major motif throughout
the tales, as each character is put in a sort of debt by the previous
character’s tale, and must repay him or her with a new tale. Instead
of traveling to reach a destination (the shrine of Saint Thomas
Becket), the traveling becomes a contest, and the pilgrimage becomes
about the journey itself rather than the destination. Bailey also
stands to profit from the contest: the winner of the contest wins
a free meal at his tavern, to be paid for by the rest of the contestants,
all of whom will presumably eat with the winner and thus buy more
meals from Bailey.

After creating the storytelling contest, Bailey quickly
appoints himself its judge. Once the pilgrims have voted to participate
in the contest, Bailey inserts himself as their ruler, and anyone
who disagrees with him faces a strict financial penalty. Some have
interpreted Bailey’s speedy takeover of the pilgrimage as an allegory
for the beginnings of absolute monarchy. The narrator refers to
the Host as the group’s “governour,” “juge,” and “reportour [record-keeper]”—all
very legalistic terms (813–814).